For thenations that were a part of President Obama’s recent Asian tour, surely thiswas a new experience for them. For the first time, they greeted and hosted themost powerful person in the world, one of the most brilliant people they’veever met. And for the first time, thatperson is a man of African descent. Ithas been a long journey since the 1955 Bandung Conference, that historicmeeting of African and Asian states striving for self-determination and againstcolonialism. Meanwhile, black people today are often stereotyped in Asiancountries as dirty, violent, mentally deficient and otherwise inferior—notunlike the ways in which the West has portrayed people of color for years.
Althoughsymbolism has its limits, surely, it means a lot for international relations tohave a fresh face on the scene in the form of Obama, a leader of the world whohas lived in the world. Obama was bornin Hawaii and lived in Indonesia. Hishalf sister is Asian American, and one of his half brothers is an African Americanliving in China. No other president has had such an international background,or such potential to make a difference on the world stage.
But forAsian nations, white skin was the traditional standard of beauty andprosperity. In the old days, the poorer folks were darker because they had towork in the fields, where they were exposed to the sun.
As Chinawelcomes Obama, the nation is forced to deal with its long-standingprejudices toward black people. But the discrimination isinternal as well. The Chinese governmenthas been heavy-handed in its treatment of the country’s aggrieved Uighur Muslimminority, and has waged cultural genocide against the people of Tibet.
In India,the caste system, although officially banned, still lives on. Brown and black faces predominate in thisnation of over 1 billion people. However, white skin is desirable, and skinwhitening creams are popular.
And Japanhas had a longstanding problem with racism and xenophobia. Even today, one can find signs that say “NoForeigners Allowed” and “Japanese Only”, or a recent TV commercial depictingPresident Obama as a monkey. In 2005, DoudouDiene, special rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights, found thatdiscrimination in Japan is “deep andprofound.” He addedthat “This xenophobic drive is expressed by associating minorities, certainminorities, to crime, to violence, to dirt.”
TheseJapanese sentiments do not apply solely to foreigners and foreign workers. Despite its self-portrayal as a homogeneoussociety, Japan has its own minority groups that historically have been regardedas inferior. For example, the Ainu, anindigenous ethnic group, has suffered from displacement and culturalassimilation, higher levels of poverty and unemployment, and lower levels ofhealth and education. Over 1 million Japaneseof Korean descent— products of Japanese wartime colonization and forcedlabor—are treated as foreigners in the country of their birth. They face a “hidden apartheid”, in which theyface discrimination in housing and employment, and feel pressure to changetheir Korean names and blend in society. Further, the Burakumin are anoutcaste group similar to the untouchable caste in India. They face discrimination because their feudalancestors held occupations such as butchers, tanners and gravediggers—death-related jobs that were considered tainted and unclean under Buddhist andShinto practices.
The topicof racial attitudes in Asia has fascinated me for a long time. Inhigh school, I traveled to Japan as an exchange student and lived with a familyin Tokyo. I majored in East AsianStudies in college, and wrote my thesis on Japanese perceptions of foreigners. Aftercollege, I worked as one of a handful of gaijin(foreigners) in a Japanese bank, and later for the Tokyo office of a major U.S.advertising agency. Living in Japan wasa life-altering experience for me, and in a good way. Being a true foreigner in another cultureprovided me with a broader world perspective, and helped me deal withadversity.
Overall,my Japan experience was positive. It took some time to get used to the stares,or the occasional child who wanted to touch my skin or hair. Then there werethe people who assumed I was a hip-hop entertainer, or a baseball player, orsome other racial stereotype of a black man in Japan. Clearly, there was anembrace of black culture in Japan. The music and swagger of black peoplepermeate international popular culture. And as I went to work in my business suit on the Tokyo subway, Icouldn’t help but laugh to myself as I passed by Japanese teenagers sportingtheir dreads, hip-hop gear and Afrocentric t-shirts. But at the same time, Ihad to endure my fellow employees at the company dormitory. Some employees at the bank had the idea tothrow a party, in which everyone would come dressed in blackface. After I protested, they cancelled theirplans, but only after lecturing me about the need for foreigners to understandJapanese culture.
I believethat as time passes and the world shrinks, it becomes more difficult fordiscrimination to find a safe harbor. Modern technology serves to eliminate borders and expose our activitiesbefore the light of day. The nations ofAsia, like the U.S., have a long way to go before they eradicate racism. And yet, despite its legacy of slavery andinstitutionalized racism, America elected a man by the name of Barack Obama aspresident. The leaders of Asia now mustdeal with a man of African descent as the leader of the American empire. And he isn’t a racial stereotype, forwhatever that is worth. Certainly, thatalone must give them pause.
David A. Love is an Editorial Board member of BlackCommentator.com, and a contributor to the Progressive Media Project and theGrio. He is a writer and human rights advocate based in Philadelphia, and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. His blog is davidalove.com.